Can a free tablet app render traditional textbooks and publishers obsolete? Will new software for grading papers and short essays replace teachers? Education has experienced a wave of progress in recent times thanks to open education resources, online colleges and mobile computing. Not only have students and teachers benefited from access to resources, but even … Continue reading “Online Resources Will Upend the Textbook Industry”
Category: San Diego
Nativo Garners $3,500,000 Series A Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9f2bc3ce-dd58-4c94-ac8f-6356f6e9ffce&Preview=1 Date 4/24/2013 Company Name Nativo Mailing Address 111 West Ocean Boulevard Long Beach, CA 90802 Company Description We believe the future of advertising is about engagement rather than interruption, and we believe that native advertising will be the primary choice of advertisers and publishers that care about user experience. Website http://www.nativo.net … Continue reading “Nativo Garners $3,500,000 Series A Financing”
SRCH2 Lands New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9fb22caf-f015-4c6b-8e3f-bb3ed827ccdc&Preview=1 Date 4/24/2013 Company Name SRCH2 Mailing Address Undisclosed Irvine, CA 92602 Company Description Our advanced software gives you rich features no one else can provide — not even Google: instant type forward, rapid geo search, error correction, custom rankings, real time updates, massive scale in one framework. The software is faster … Continue reading “SRCH2 Lands New Round”
Western Digital Acquires Arkeia Software for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=967d1d54-58a6-492c-80da-f9d6b032aa63&Preview=1 Date 4/24/2013 Company Name Arkeia Software Mailing Address 1808 Aston Avenue Carlsbad, CA 92008 Company Description Arkeia Software provides federated data protection software and appliances for networked storage. Delivering solutions for mid-sized enterprises and multi-site organizations, ArkeiaSoftware protects more than 100,000 networks for 5,000 customers in 50 countries. Website http://www.arkeia.com Transaction … Continue reading “Western Digital Acquires Arkeia Software for Undisclosed Sum”
Using Bioprinting Technology, San Diego’s Organovo Makes 3D Tissue
Organovo, a San Diego regenerative medicine company developing bio-printing technology, says it has used its proprietary NovaGen bioprinter to produce 3D samples of human liver cells that show some of the same characteristics as a functional liver in the body. The results, which Organovo is reporting today at the 2013 Experimental Biology conference in Boston, … Continue reading “Using Bioprinting Technology, San Diego’s Organovo Makes 3D Tissue”
Kendall Square’s New Rules
With the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing last week, I have found it difficult to think about much else. Xconomy had previously invited me to write about the upcoming transformation MIT is bringing to Kendall Square. When it came time to sit down and write this piece, my first reaction was to pass. But … Continue reading “Kendall Square’s New Rules”
Biotech Execs Aren’t Ready to Prove Drugs Have Value, E&Y Says
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act last year as constitutional. President Obama won re-election. After years of runaway spending on healthcare, the well established policy on healthcare in this country is that access needs to go up, and costs need to come down. While many other groups are coming to terms with … Continue reading “Biotech Execs Aren’t Ready to Prove Drugs Have Value, E&Y Says”
GlaxoSmithKline and Avalon Ventures Agree to Startup Collaboration
Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella has been saying for some time that pharmaceutical companies should be striking deals with VC firms that know how to organize biotech startups—and it now appears a Big Pharma was listening. The Wall Street Journal reports this afternoon on its (subscription-based) website that GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) has agreed to provide … Continue reading “GlaxoSmithKline and Avalon Ventures Agree to Startup Collaboration”
Coupa Gains on Competitors in Expense Management
Three decades into the PC revolution and nearly two decades after most businesses joined the Internet, you’d think that software makers would already have identified every conceivable inefficiency in the way companies work, and that they’d be running out of ideas for how businesses can use technology to save more money. Not even close. Take … Continue reading “Coupa Gains on Competitors in Expense Management”
From Assets to Zen: Building Successful Drug Hunting Relationships
[Editor’s Note: This post was co-authored by Jessica Yingling, founder of Little Dog Communications.] A wise person once said, “Select your partner wisely. Because that person will be either 90 percent of your happiness or 90 percent of your misery.” While she presumably was referring to partners in love, this could also easily apply to … Continue reading “From Assets to Zen: Building Successful Drug Hunting Relationships”
Supporting Startup Communities: Some Reflections on ‘Brant’s Rant’
I’ve had the pleasure of being part of San Diego’s entrepreneurial tech community since the ‘70s when, armed with my fresh Harvard doctorate, I joined a little company called Linkabit (the practice run for Qualcomm). I quickly learned what a start-up company was from San Diego’s finest entrepreneur, Irwin Jacobs. Since entrepreneurship is infectious, like … Continue reading “Supporting Startup Communities: Some Reflections on ‘Brant’s Rant’”
A Biotech Innovation Supply Chain: Reality or Fantasy?
Biotech has always been a bit like an open-air market bazaar. Now the industry needs to become a little more stable, more predictable. It ought to be part of something you could call an “innovation supply chain.” At least, that’s the view of Noubar Afeyan, the managing partner of Cambridge, MA-based Flagship Ventures. Biotech is … Continue reading “A Biotech Innovation Supply Chain: Reality or Fantasy?”
MarketShare Secures $38,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6bec1880-502e-4f5a-b6b4-15d5ddeaefeb&Preview=1 Date 4/22/2013 Company Name MarketShare Mailing Address 11150 Santa Monica Blvd 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90025 Company Description MarketShare’s platform provides a combination of technology, data, modeling and business intelligence solutions that lead to improved decision-making for businesses. Website http://www.MarketShare.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $38,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “MarketShare Secures $38,000,000 New Funding Round”
Ziptask Garners $118,000 Seed Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=44dc6b87-4b2c-4786-a052-8732f3dfaa65&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2013 Company Name Ziptask Mailing Address 160 S Old Springs Rd Anaheim, CA 92808 Company Description Ziptask is a layer of cloud-based project management that sits atop any and all other freelancer platforms. No longer would you need to entangle yourself with the nuances and challenges of personally managing freelancers. … Continue reading “Ziptask Garners $118,000 Seed Financing Round”
When iMovie Isn’t Enough, Amateur Video Producers Can Go Pro
When you hear people in the tech world talking about “consumerization,” they’re usually referring to complex business software that’s been overhauled to look and feel more like personal technology. But consumerization is washing over other parts of the software market too. One of them is professional media creation and editing. Photoshop is a great example. … Continue reading “When iMovie Isn’t Enough, Amateur Video Producers Can Go Pro”
San Diego Venture Funding Remains Flat in Q1 MoneyTree Data
Venture capital activity in the San Diego region has remained flat for two consecutive quarters, with funding levels and deals for the first three months of 2013 coming in almost exactly the same as the last three months of 2012, according to data from the MoneyTree Report released today. VCs invested $178.3 million in 26 … Continue reading “San Diego Venture Funding Remains Flat in Q1 MoneyTree Data”
Venture Funding Slows as VC Industry Contracts, & Top 10 Deals List
Overall venture capital activity slowed in the U.S. during the first three months of 2013, with venture capitalists investing $5.9 billion in 863 deals nationwide, according to the MoneyTree Report released today. Compared with the previous quarter, VC funding was off nearly 12 percent and the deal count was down almost 15 percent. Venture firms … Continue reading “Venture Funding Slows as VC Industry Contracts, & Top 10 Deals List”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Life’s M&A Deal, Santarus, & More
By far, the biggest life sciences news in the San Diego region over the past week was Thermo Fisher Scientific’s $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies. I’ve compiled a special edition roundup of the deal, along with everything that happened in San Diego. —In one of the biggest corporate buyouts San Diego has seen, Thermo … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Life’s M&A Deal, Santarus, & More”
Bootstrapping With A Paycheck
Entrepreneurs looking to launch their startups are often faced with myriad difficult decisions, chief among them being the question of seed financing. If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “How can I fund this?” or “Can I fund this on my own, while I’m still holding my current job?” the answer is yes—you absolutely can. Vasu … Continue reading “Bootstrapping With A Paycheck”
Acquired or Acq-hired, Xpenser Adds Expertise to Coupa’s Web Services
Some startups are born great, some achieve greatness—and some get acquired. Getting acquired can mean different things, however. In the case of Xpenser, a consumer Web startup based in Del Mar, CA (just north of San Diego), the buyout disclosed last week by San Francisco-based Coupa Software was more like getting hired. Founded in 2008 … Continue reading “Acquired or Acq-hired, Xpenser Adds Expertise to Coupa’s Web Services”
Celebrity Webchefs Lands $435,000 Seed Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=433afe59-c1cf-4f4b-ad25-a8a3338e6eb5&Preview=1 Date 4/18/2013 Company Name Celebrity Webchefs Mailing Address Undisclosed Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Company Description Founded by successful entertainment, mobile technology and media veterans Foodie Media Network develops digital and mobile media brands connecting consumers to numerous foodie media channels that detail the Art of Cooking with the help by noted … Continue reading “Celebrity Webchefs Lands $435,000 Seed Round”
ScoreBig Garners $10,000,003 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=107dcdcb-1788-4ba4-b604-a99047723e4e&Preview=1 Date 4/18/2013 Company Name ScoreBig Mailing Address 1800 N. Highland Ave. First Floor Hollywood, CA 90028 Company Description The company provides unsold ticket liquidation services. Website http://www.scorebig.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,003 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms Venture Investor … Continue reading “ScoreBig Garners $10,000,003 New Round”
Inaugural Meetup: Women in Bio Organize SoCal Chapter
Women in Bio supports career growth and entrepreneurship for women in the life sciences industry, with chapters in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, and other cities. Organizers looking to start a chapter in Southern California have invited Histogen CEO Gail Naughton to serve as a keynote speaker for this inaugural meeting. More information and online … Continue reading “Inaugural Meetup: Women in Bio Organize SoCal Chapter”
With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology
There weren’t many details in the statement that ViaSat (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSAT]]) issued last week, after the Carlsbad, CA-based specialist in satellite-based communications technologies acquired LonoCloud, a San Diego startup founded two years ago. ViaSat said it would integrate core components of LonoCloud’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology with its broadband network, which includes its … Continue reading “With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology”
When Hell Froze Over—in the Harvard Business Review
In my 21 years as an entrepreneur, I would come up for air once a month to religiously read the Harvard Business Review. It was not only my secret weapon in thinking about new startup strategies, it also gave me a view of the management issues my customers were dealing with. Through HBR I discovered … Continue reading “When Hell Froze Over—in the Harvard Business Review”
Welcome to Xperience, The New Consumer Section of Xconomy
It’s been a busy spring here at Xconomy. Last month we added a seventh city to our national network—Xconomy Boulder/Denver. And today we’re excited to announce Xperience, a new section designed to guide consumers to the best technologies for their lifestyles. You might have stumbled across Xperience already. We “soft-launched” the section on March 28 … Continue reading “Welcome to Xperience, The New Consumer Section of Xconomy”
BlueCava Secures $625,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2fd4b560-e140-461c-b974-0dbc03ea988e&Preview=1 Date 4/17/2013 Company Name BlueCava Mailing Address 131 Innovation Drive Irvine, CA 92617 Company Description The company has created the BlueCava Device Identification Platform that helps identify any device that is connected to the Internet. Website http://www.BlueCava.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $625,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were … Continue reading “BlueCava Secures $625,000 New Funding Round”
Yacht Club Games Garners $300,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=311c5ff9-929d-4544-8066-146650259124&Preview=1 Date 4/17/2013 Company Name Yacht Club Games Mailing Address Undisclosed Los Angeles, CA 90049 Company Description Yacht Club Games is an independent game developer started in 2011 by Sean Velasco and a crew from WayForward. We are a fun-loving bunch of gaming geniuses who have dedicated our lives to video games … Continue reading “Yacht Club Games Garners $300,000 New Funding”
Revision Optics Receives $14,999,998 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5b84c944-aac6-46f9-9b3d-3750164c6b49&Preview=1 Date 4/17/2013 Company Name Revision Optics Mailing Address 25651 Atlantic Ocean Dr Lake Forest, CA 92630 Company Description The PRESBYLENS Corneal Inlay (CI) is a unique, patented refractive surgery solution that is designed to correct vision lost by the natural aging process called presbyopia. The PRESBYLENS CI, made from our proprietary … Continue reading “Revision Optics Receives $14,999,998 New Round”
Revision Optics Garners $14,999,998 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5b84c944-aac6-46f9-9b3d-3750164c6b49 Date 4/17/2013 Company Name Revision Optics Mailing Address 25651 Atlantic Ocean Dr Lake Forest, CA 92630 Company Description The PRESBYLENS Corneal Inlay (CI) is a unique, patented refractive surgery solution that is designed to correct vision lost by the natural aging process called presbyopia. The PRESBYLENS CI, made from our proprietary … Continue reading “Revision Optics Garners $14,999,998 New Round”
A New Age in Aerospace & Other Takeaways from the Rock Stars Summit
As the editor in chief of Wired magazine for a dozen years, Chris Anderson was in the enviable position of seeing over the horizon and anticipating how innovation is changing our lives. So would you take heed if Anderson said an industrial revolution is imminent in aerospace innovation? Indeed, more than 200 people were spellbound … Continue reading “A New Age in Aerospace & Other Takeaways from the Rock Stars Summit”
Re-thinking Clinical Trials for the World of Crowdsourcing
Disruption isn’t a word normally associated with clinical drug development, but nevertheless it is coming. We can feel the rumblings of it. New technologies and technology-enabled techniques for productivity in mainstream business applications are slowly making their way into the clinic. There are signals that drug development is starting to catch up with the general … Continue reading “Re-thinking Clinical Trials for the World of Crowdsourcing”
20Jeans Garners $1,000,000 Seed Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=aca6b860-b428-491a-bc48-569e5f28d4bb&Preview=1 Date 4/16/2013 Company Name 20Jeans Mailing Address Undisclosed Los Angeles, CA 90001 Company Description By working with small design houses to curate a trademark collection of clothes, and occasionally wheeling and dealing with premium designers on their overstock inventory, we keep our costs low… and more importantly, yours. Website http://www.20jeans.com Transaction … Continue reading “20Jeans Garners $1,000,000 Seed Funding Round”
Powerwave Technologies Receives $5,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b9099455-d014-4032-89e5-87dfbfd4fd72&Preview=1 Date 4/16/2013 Company Name Powerwave Technologies Mailing Address 1801 East St Andrew Place Santa Ana, CA 92705 Company Description A global leader in end-to-end wireless coverage and capacity solutions, Powerwave Technologies, Inc. offers cutting edge wireless infrastructure to address the demands of enterprise and commercial customers. Powerwave offers a comprehensive suite … Continue reading “Powerwave Technologies Receives $5,000,000 New Financing Round”
Music Mastermind Obtains $11,355,301 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a6a1857f-391c-4292-8ea6-adf82a30aff3&Preview=1 Date 4/16/2013 Company Name Music Mastermind Mailing Address 22301 Mulholland Highway Calabasas, CA 91302 Company Description Music Mastermind (MMM), based in Calabasas, CA, and formed in 2008, is an entertainment software company that is changing the way music is created, shared, and enjoyed. Led by top players in the three very … Continue reading “Music Mastermind Obtains $11,355,301 New Financing”
BuyReply Garners $1,000,000 Seed Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a97aa92c-d9a0-4484-938b-e208ec383e24&Preview=1 Date 4/16/2013 Company Name BuyReply Mailing Address 2321 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90006 Company Description BuyReply enables merchants and developers to narrow the divide between online and offline commerce by making it easy for consumers to transact without friction from any connected device using the lowest common denominator of … Continue reading “BuyReply Garners $1,000,000 Seed Financing”
Rewarding High-Risk Innovation: The Case for Carried Interest
As Washington grapples with the deficit, nothing generates more emotion than tax “loopholes.” A priority “loophole” target in the budget that President Obama sent to Congress last week is the treatment of managers’ carried interest in private equity funds as capital gains, which he characterizes as “unfair” and the key reason for the low tax … Continue reading “Rewarding High-Risk Innovation: The Case for Carried Interest”
Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal
Waltham, MA-based Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:TMO]]) said today it will pay $13.6 billion to acquire Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) following an auction that began in January and initially drew interest from a consortium of private equity firms. The deal combines two giants of the laboratory equipment and supply business just as the … Continue reading “Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal”
Strategies for Navigating the Life Sciences Capital Crunch
The need for innovation in healthcare has arguably never been greater. A range of factors, from aging world populations to rising standards of living in developing countries, are poised to drive long-run demand for innovative drugs, devices and medical technologies that can improve outcomes and reduce costs. Ironically, however, funding for healthcare innovation remains in … Continue reading “Strategies for Navigating the Life Sciences Capital Crunch”
Big Data Is BS in Healthcare. When Will It Become Real?
Tech entrepreneurs have been raving for a while now about big data changing the world, and it’s mostly bullshit. Venture capitalist Brad Feld made this point, more or less, when he was being purposely provocative at an Xconomy event last fall. As a biotech journalist, I wanted to cheer “Preach On, Brother Feld!” Doctors are … Continue reading “Big Data Is BS in Healthcare. When Will It Become Real?”
WiSpry Secures $3,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=698d56ff-0117-4d96-b582-084d18d575db&Preview=1 Date 4/15/2013 Company Name WiSpry Mailing Address 20 Fairbanks Irvine, CA 92618 Company Description WiSpry is a fabless, radio frequency (RF) semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, California and was formed in October 2002 through a spin-off of the RF/Wireless business unit of Coventor, Inc., the market-leading MEMS software company. Website http://www.wispry.com … Continue reading “WiSpry Secures $3,000,000 New Funding”
15 Appetizing Apps for People Who Love to Cook and Eat
Phones and food are a match cooked up in heaven. Sometimes it seems as if our mobile gadgets were specifically designed to mesh with our cooking and eating habits. After all, you don’t lug your desktop or laptop computer with you when you’re going out to a restaurant. When you want to find a great … Continue reading “15 Appetizing Apps for People Who Love to Cook and Eat”
Foursquare’s New Cash, New Focus: Why Local is So Damn Hard
Back in 2009, with the smartphone revolution just taking off, savvy app-makers started playing around with ways to use the iPhone’s GPS features, tracking where users are in real time. The sharpest among them, it turned out, wound up building little games that encouraged people to “check in” at places they visited in the real … Continue reading “Foursquare’s New Cash, New Focus: Why Local is So Damn Hard”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More
Some of San Diego’s public life sciences companies have been buoyed as the stock market has soared to new heights in recent weeks (for the year, the Dow is up 13 percent and the S&P 500 index 12 percent), but Acadia Pharmaceuticals had an extraordinary ride yesterday. We have details, along with the rest of … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More”
Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals
How often does the FDA tell a drug developer to dispense with a requisite, second late-stage trial—and to proceed with filing a new drug application? Shares of San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACAD]]) appreciated by two-thirds today, leaping from yesterday’s close of $7.97 a share to more than $13.30 in late mid-day trading on the … Continue reading “Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals”
Stop Managing Your Career and Start a Company
First, a full confession. I have not read Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In.” I do have her book on my Kobo e-reader. I will read it this weekend. My fellow tech CEO friends highly recommend it. I know I am going to love it too. But my unintentional avoidance of “Lean In” (my “leaning out”?) goes … Continue reading “Stop Managing Your Career and Start a Company”
Startup Communities Are Messy: Highlights & Slideshow with Brad Feld
(Xconomy contributor Juliet Preston helped pull this story together) It’s one thing to read a leading tech investor’s new book on building entrepreneurial ecosystems, and another thing altogether to host him in a sweet living room art gallery with a couple dozen of San Diego’s tech leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs. With help from the Cooley … Continue reading “Startup Communities Are Messy: Highlights & Slideshow with Brad Feld”
Venture Deals Neared $7B in First Quarter, Up From 2012
We recently looked at which venture capitalists were raising money last quarter. Now we’ve got some insight into how they spent it. Research firm CB Insights says it tracked $6.9 billion in VC investments nationwide in the first quarter of this year, spread across 841 deals. Those totals represented a steady pace compared with the … Continue reading “Venture Deals Neared $7B in First Quarter, Up From 2012”
Accumetrics Lands $6,337,123 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=874509ea-99b4-41b0-a89f-da49d67071ac&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2013 Company Name Accumetrics Mailing Address 3985 Sorrento Valley Blvd. San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Founded in 1996, Accumetrics is a privately-held company based in San Diego, California. The company develops, manufactures, and markets the VerifyNow System, a comprehensive suite of tests for the assessment of platelet response to … Continue reading “Accumetrics Lands $6,337,123 New Funding Round”
The Ultimate “Lean In”: Starting Your Own Company
Sheryl Sandberg brings a much-needed voice to the table on female leadership. She speaks from the vantage point of a strong executive who has made her way to the top. Her concept of leaning in and not leaving before you leave is important, but all this comes from an employee’s view. About four years ago, … Continue reading “The Ultimate “Lean In”: Starting Your Own Company”